Out of water – out of breath

The climate change crisis seems to extend just from a fiction or bleak predictions to our every day lives. Even though Czech people are quite conservative, 4 out of 5 people start to think, that climate change might be a real issue.

If we want to be pessimistic, there is a great chance that in thirty to sixty years. the volume of water in Czech creeks and rivers will drop to 4/5 of the current water volume. When the worst comes to worst, we will see great changes in the fauna and the flora. Insufficient flows in dry periods not only affect drinking water , but also worsen its quality in rivers and streams. This is thanks to insufficient dilution of wastewater. This problem can be solved by “diluting” the wastewater with water from dam reservoirs. And of course by cleaning it.

Lower amount of water will lead to more frequent drying of smaller streams and creeks. These streams are the network that connect the whole enviroment. There is sure going to be a real impact on the plants and animals that live in said enviroment. The abundance of native species is likely to decline. Some plants and animals from the south of Europe will also spread to the Czech Republic, including those that are invading, which can significantly change the ecosystem.

The predictions about seasonal behaviour of the water are looking really bleak. Thanks to the changes in the weather, it is being predicted that during summers the volume shall decrease by 20-40%. During the winters the volume should increase about 5-20%. Other bleak predictions state that the rainfall distribution will also dramatically change. That means extremes droughts and torrential rains.

To think that the water problem is problem of the future is foolish, there are problems with lack of water in some parts of Moravia just now. The main reasons for the lack of water are higher temperatures, mostly during the summer, when there are heat waves, bigger than ever before. There are still rains, but the water evaporates aways much quicker than it should.

There are also other problems that include us much more. For example the volumes of groundwater that are going to thin out. That means a decrease of drinking water for the people. Although there is a great drinking water infrastructure in Czech republic, it does not mean that it covers the whole Czechia. Shortage of drinkable water could be a real problem for smaller towns and villages which are dependent on local water resources. These resources can be gone forever in the near future.

There still is hope regarding smaller towns and villages. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, one of the solutions to the current and future shortage of drinking water is the construction of new feeders from water reservoirs to municipalities and cities where local groundwater sources have not been sufficient in the past. On the other hand according to the ministry, deepening the current underground resources does not make sense.

There is some initiative to help with the water situation, but the lack of funds and overall lack of interest between the common people is suppressing any real progress. The government has spent few billions Czech crowns to help the enviroment, but according to the Supreme Audit Office, there are no visible results.

Cities and towns are more than happy to use the financial help from EU to fund “Eco” projects like planting new trees, building green rooftops and cooling down the heavily heated parts of cities/towns. The problem is, that this type of fight is mostly ineffective. There is no further study of the problems and the solutions provided by the cities are often short-sighted or sometimes completely wrong. The worst case is for example planting the wrong kind of the tree, that is uncommon for the rest of the enviroment.

So, what can be done. It makes sense to plant common trees that are not from foreign enviroments. Creating mixed forests will also help. The other solution is construction of reservoirs and water mains, measures in the enviroment can also dampen the decline in runoff. Other nature-friendly measures include, for example, the restoration of wetlands or naturally meandering rivers and streams.